On January 7,2014, a terrorist attack at the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, in Paris, France, took the lives of 12 cartoonists and journalists. In the span of three days, the death toll, with the three dead attackers included, rose to 20. Although it did not receive a fraction of the media shockwaves, the Nigerian terrorist group, Boko Haram, is said to have committed an even horrifying atrocities in Baga, Nigeria on the same week. Various reports put the death toll up to 2,000, but the Nigerian government disputes the report, putting it at 150 people.
The killings might have taken place in France and in Nigeria, but the cause behind them, is as universal and relevant to Ethiopia as any other country in the world. Analysing the big picture, these acts of extremism are not specific to any religion or the assailant individuals. Freedom of expression and human tolerance is the focal point of the issue.
Those at Charlie Hebdo have received repeated death threats previously, for what many Muslims took offense at the paper’s blaspheming publication of the Prophet Muhammad. Nonetheless, the journalists and caricatures did not back down.
Their attitude in the face of continued threat was best summed by what one of the paper’s editor Stephane Charbonnier said in 2012, “I would rather die standing than live on my knees.” Stephane was slain by the terrorist.
The reasons behind the killings are as relevant to those of us here in Addis Abeba as it is to those in Paris and elsewhere. This is because the trend of human intolerance to one another across the globe is increasing by the day. Acts of extremism overwhelm our news feeds.
Recently, I have observed many Ethiopians throwing accusations and insults at young Ethiopian media personality, Meron Getnet. Calling her names, such as opportunist, traitor and sell-out for Green Card just to mention a few. Their reason behind it, her recorded poem posted on YouTube.
The poem has been a catalyst for offensive and impolite war of words. In her poem, disenchanted Meron expresses her frustration with Ethiopia’s bureaucracy. Flustered to the point that, in her dispirited tone of voice, she encourages youth outmigration. Admitting it was a reversal of her earlier naïveté stance.
The eloquently articulated poem certainly resonated with many and equally angered others. The dissenting camp feels that the poem paints Ethiopia as a hopeless country for its youth.
I have attentively listened to the poem few times; and I, for one, do not find the contents of her poem to be offensive. I have two simple points as to why neither should anyone else.
Who, in their right mind, would deny the incompetency of public service and the inefficient bureaucracy in Ethiopia?
It is in fact a feeling shared by many Ethiopians including its leaders at the helm. The late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his successor Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn for example, have on many occasions expressed their frustration to the lack of good governance and corruption problems.
There is no right or wrong in an artistically delivered message. There are no artistic wrongs; there are opinions, feelings or emotions expressed. The weight of their meaning is dependent on the receiver’s own capacity.
What the poet said or did not say should have been beside the point anyway. Even the recent horrifying terror attacks will soon fade from the general public’s memories as soon as media cameras start zooming their lens to focus on new tragedies. Don’t mistake me for a pessimist as I am far from it; but it is predictable because, collectively, we are losing the fundamentals of peace.
Human confidence on technology has gone out of control. Growing ever so dependent on superficial securities to the safeguard our wellbeing. We are building sophisticated lethal weapons capable of annihilating our own race in minutes. Supposedly we build them to protect us.
But from whom exactly?
What is certain, though, is, in the process, we are losing our humanity.
Our approach to tragedies, our resolve to give others the benefit of the doubt, and our tolerance towards those we fervently disagree with, will determine our collective security. We tend to perceive justice as an end point solution, it is not at all.
It is a reaction. The verdict of its fairness often left in limbo. Ultimately mastering the needed strength to forgive those who do us wrong will be the uncontested formula for peace.
Study proves that among others, our culture, our faith and our experience shape our individual personalities. Therefore, how we perceive and interpret the world around us is bound to be as diverse as our numbers. It is, then, expected of us to realise our tangled co-existence requires of us to acknowledge our differences. We must continuously try to remind ourselves the views and beliefs held and opinions expressed by others are equally righteous as those sacred principles of our own.
Tolerating others’ right for freedom of expression protects our individual liberty and subsequently our collective rights. Our individual rights are interwoven with the rights of others, even if we find their expression to be politically, ethnically or religiously offensive. To deny others their right to express to be right or wrong is to deny oneself the right to be right.
Societies’ collective progress depends on its willingness to tolerate and protect those outliers in its midst with eccentric views. In retrospect, time and again, history proves they have been ahead of their time guiding others into new frontiers.
Learning and acceptance happens in the process where we start to critically question everything. Being open minded to compare and contrast opposing views, in essence allows our brain to expand. In tolerating, humans gain a new level of perspective.
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